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Analysis of Discourse Production to Assess Cognitive Communication Deficits Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Jennifer Rae Myers1, Nancy Pearl Solomon1,2, Rael T Lange3,4,5,6,7
1National Military Audiology and Speech Pathology Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
|December 21, 2021
Summary
Discourse analysis reveals differences in global coherence and word count in service members with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), with or without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These findings suggest potential markers for cognitive communication deficits in mTBI populations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Assessing cognitive communication deficits in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is challenging.
- Discourse analysis shows promise as a sensitive metric for cognitive communication skills in various TBI severities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore discourse production in service members and veterans (SMVs) with mTBI, with or without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- To compare discourse in SMVs with mTBI (with and without PTSD) against controls with no brain injury (NBI) and without PTSD.
Main Methods:
- A wordless picture story was used to elicit spontaneous discourse from three groups: SMVs with mTBI and PTSD (n=15), SMVs with mTBI (n=26), and controls with NBI and without PTSD (n=25).
- Discourse samples were analyzed for global coherence, word count, negative emotion words, cognitive process words, nonfluencies, and story completeness.
Main Results:
- A significant difference in global coherence was found between the mTBI group and the NBI group (p = .017).
- Word count significantly differed between the mTBI + PTSD group and the NBI group (p = .006).
- No other significant group differences were observed in the analyzed discourse features.
Conclusions:
- Structural features of discourse production may indicate cognitive communication deficits following mTBI.
- Posttraumatic stress disorder may exacerbate verbal fluency deficits in individuals with mTBI.
- Further research is necessary to refine discourse-based measures for mTBI and PTSD.
